Washington DC progressive instrumental band ANIMALS AS LEADERS, the solo project of 7- and 8-string guitar virtuoso Tosin Abasi, has announced dates in January and February supporting VEIL OF MAYA, along with CIRCLE OF CONTEMPT and PERIPHERY. This marks the second tour for the former REFLUX axe man's new project.

Animosity and bassist Dan Kenny have parted ways. Evan Brewer of Reflux has subsequently joined the band. Here's a statement from Animosity:

"We are extremely excited to announce that on our upcomming tour with FASSW, Cattle Decapitation, Misery Index, and JFAC as well as on all of the Necrophagist dates we will have Evan Brewer of Reflux jamming with us on bass. As long time friends and personal fans of his innovative and creative playing, we think that Evan is going to be a great addition to the gnarly party machine that is Animosity. As for Danny, who has been playing with us for over a year now, we plan to continue to support him in his future musical ventures as we are sure that he will soon be pumping out some serious brutal death metal. We can't wait to rock...see yall soon."

Contrary to rumors, Reflux are not breaking up. Lambgoat spoke with a member of the band earlier today and confirmed that they are indeed taking a break, but not disbanding permanently. Here's a statement from the group:

"Reflux is not over. The four of us are all still the best of friends and intend on putting out a proper full-length album that does us justice sometime in 2007. Yes, we will touring in support of it. However we will not be touring anytime soon in 2006. We lived out of a van for many months in the past year and made a lot of progress in the US, Canada and Europe. Now: Vinny and Tosin are living in Atlanta taking a one year course studying Music Theory at the ATL Institute of Music. Evan is living in his hometown of Nashville being a fucking pimp. Ash is bouncing back and forth between living on Venice Beach and DC. We will be releasing some live footage from our headlining December Tour online soon, along with possibly clips of a new song that was performed on that run.

We would like to extend thanks to Prosthetic Records, Outerloop Management, Avocado Booking, Darkest Hour, Strapping Young Lad and everyone else who took us seriously on this album cycle and helped us when others wrote us off. Thanks to all the kids who have shown us so much love and inspired us to keep sleeping like shit and eating Waffle House at 4am every night smelling like a hobo until we got to the next town. We have had some of the best times of our lives doing this band thing and we aren't throwing it away. As other bands who give the interstates their full-time attention and dedication can tell you, sometimes you just have to take a step back and satisfy your own personal, creative, and spiritual desires instead of killing yourself on the road in the name of soundscans and moshing. What to expect on the next album? More cohesive songs, more memorable parts, more dynamic performances displayed by all members, and more musical identity. We just want to make an album that we will enjoy years from now and not associate with whatever was 'cool' at the time of our album cycle. It is our duty as grown ass men to be less concerned with being the next big thing in Hot Topic, and more concerned with creatively fulfilling ourselves. So in 2007 all you gym short kids, basement shredder music geeks, girlie jean flattened hair gender benders, fishnet arm eyeliner fruits, and industry schmucks: get ready for an album that will be nothing like anything you have heard in heavy music. We will not be rushed. We will not be pressured by superficial flavor of the week bullshit, and we will have real production. Should be fun!:) And no, we don't care how many people we just alienated or offended by this post. Now for your quote of the day...

'even in HARDCORE, there are so many rules about what is and what is not acceptable, and that completely negates the whole spirit of the ORIGINAL idea.' - Dennis Lyxzén / Refused."

The 1st Annual Virginia Metal & Hardcore Festival will take place on Saturday, January 28th at KC's Music Alley in Fredericksburg, VA. The event will feature two stages and tickets will be $15 in advance or $18 at the door. The official website, virginiametalfest.com, will be online early next week. In addition to some suprise guests that have yet to be announced, the following bands have been confirmed:

On Broken WingsFrom a Second Story WindowRefluxThrough the Eyes of the DeadEd GeinDespised IconThe Burning SeasonToo Pure to DieAll Else FailedCassiusTime Of CholeraWe Were GentlemenThis Time It's WarAorta ConsumptionABACABBAdonis DecayA Kid Named DarwinBuried Among Us

Reflux have begun writing material for their next album. The effort will be recorded this winter and should hit streets in spring 2006 via Prosthetic Records. Meanwhile, the group will play a few fall shows (see below) before touring from Washington D.C. to California and back in December.

"The tour was nothing short of the coolest fucking tour we have ever done in our lives. While the overnight/all day drives through European hell was some of the most brutal transporting of our bodies we have ever done, the shows w/ Darkest Hour and Beecher made everything worth it and then some. Not to mention travelling through so many amazing countries and seeing things thousands of years old added to the overall experience that was the Undoing Ruin 2005 Tour. We will definitely be headed back to Europe as soon as we can in 2006. For now, we are taking some time off from the road to write for our next record. Our next tour for certain is a Prosthetic Records Tour in the states w/ All That Remains and The Esoteric starting Nov 18 that will take us out to Cali and back. There will also be a Toronto and Montreal show for all you awesome Canadian people. We will be posting some pics and other stuff we promised that are long overdue soon. And if you ordered merch from our webstore and haven't gotten it, we're on it!! Thanks for caring. You Rule, <3 the flux"

As previously reported, Reflux have announced three tour dates in the States so far:

The first annual Hellraisers' Ball will take place October 1st at the Town Square Plaza Park/England Bros. Pavillion in Pinellas Park, Florida. TIckets are $25 in advance and $35 the day of the show and are on sale today. The bands listed to play thus far are as follows:

MotorheadDark New DayMeshuggahDevildriverGod ForbidOtepThe HauntedMnemicCemeteryEnd of the RopeTrigger PointReflux

The tentative listing of tour dates for the ON BROKEN WINGS, FROM A SECOND STORY WINDOW, REFLUX, & ION DISSONANCE tour have been revealed. Updates with venue information will be released as soon as they are made available. On Broken Wings will be playing new material from their new CD, "It's All a Long Goodbye," which hits stores on June 21, 2005.

Once an underground phenomenon, Strapping Young Lad are now on the verge of a major genre-defying breakthrough with "Alien," their highly anticipated fourth studio album. Their critically acclaimed new offering is now available and it is quickly going to redefine the meaning of extreme.

These Canadian extremists will embark on a massive U.S. headlining tour this spring with The Agony Scene, Misery Signals and Reflux in the support slots. The trek kicks off on April 5th and will make a stop at the legendary New England Metal and Hardcore Fest on April 23rd. This tour also marks the first time the group have ever played any of their new material live, and expect nothing less than a balls-out, highly energetic set. The group recently shot a video for “Love?” with acclaimed director Joe Lynch (Devildriver, Kataklysm) and its unique concept is definitely going to catch people’s attention; look for it to make its Headbangers Ball debut on April 2nd.

The final segment of "The Making of Alien" was also just posted online and click here to view the entire series. Strapping Young Lad documented their entire recording process, and the first four parts will provide an in-depth look into Armoury Studios (Kiss, Van Halen) where mastermind Devin Townsend (vocals, guitars) describes how the album was assembled. Also, for the first time, fans can witness how Gene Hoglan (ex-Dark Angel, ex-Testament), Byron Stroud (now also in Fear Factory) and Jed Simon lay their tracks down. The final three parts of this series focus on the more technical aspects (gear, settings, samples, etc.) of the recording.

Click here to download "Love?" from Alien, the group's most maniacal and outlandish offering yet.

Danzig and special guest Doyle have been confirmed as the Saturday headliner for the seventh annual New England Metal and Hardcore Festival, to be held Friday-Sunday, April 22-24 at the Palladium in Worcester, Mass.

In addition to the regular Danzig set, Doyle with join the band for a blistering 30-minute set of classic Misfits material. Danzig and Doyle have performed together just three times during Danzig’s recent tour – their first performances together in over 21 years.

The organizers of the New England Metal And Hardcore Festival have announced most of the bands that will perform at this year's event, set to be held Friday-Sunday, April 22-24, 2005 at The Palladium in Worcester. The billing for the festival is shaping up as follows:

SOCIETY'S FINEST, unfortunately, must drop off of the scheduled Reflux tour for December.Here's a statement from the band. "Unfortunately we had to drop off our tour with Reflux and others for the first 2 weeks of December. We've been on the road since July and as of right now we are phsyically and financially exhausted. We'd like to apologize to anyone that planned on coming out to see us on this tour. We just need to take care of some things before we are able to be on the road again. We will be doing the hxcmp3.com tour with our good friends GODS as well as many other great bands and we look forward to seeing you all then. We've been very busy working on new material on the road and we'll be debuting yet another new song on the hxcmp3.com tour. So come on out and see some amazing bands and some brand new material that we've been writing for months. We love you all and we can't thank you enough for all of your love and support."